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community college

community college

79 3.0
A local public college that offers two-year courses for job skills or study before university
  • noun
  • /kəˈmjunɪti ˈkɑlɪdʒ/
  • US
translation icon : colegio comunitario (EE. UU.)
  • Many students choose to attend a community college to earn their associate degrees before transferring to a four-year university.
  • community college students
  • attend community college
  • community college programs

I was going to Community College studying to become an attorney.

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Examples

  • For Career Education, we have guests from community colleges come and visit the students.

    Academic text (2011)
  • I went to community college for a semester and a half.

  • And I can totally, you know, accept going to a Community College not thinking anything of it.

  • The all the facilities that are built for the Community College are shared by the community.

  • -You could always go to the community college up the hill.

  • OK, so my plan was to attend like a Community College and not a university.

  • I'm here for an interview at the community college.

  • For many students entering community colleges, the first stop on campus is an assessment center.

    Academic text (2011)
  • They have classes at the community college.

  • The article concludes with recommended actions that community colleges might take to overcome these challenges.

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

college
vscommunity college
1.0

A school where students study for degrees and the buildings they use

offers two year, nonresidential programs targeting local vocational and transfer needs
junior college
vscommunity college
  • US
22 3.2

A college that offers the first two years of study after high school

emphasizes local vocational training and transfer to four year universities

How Advanced

graduate school
  • US
52 3.6
university
870 1.0
college
1.0
community college
  • US
79 3.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

community + college

The compound is compositionally a 'college for the community' — a local institution serving local people — so a B1 learner who knows 'community' and 'college' can infer the core meaning. Specific institutional details (e.g. two-year, nonresidential, associate-degree/transfer function) are cultural/administrative and may not be deducible, but the basic referent is directly predictable from the constituents.

Etymology

The noun community college comes from the idea of a local community having its own small college that offers short, usually two-year courses and night classes for working people. So it means 'a local, often two-year college that teaches practical subjects and helps students move on to a university'.